Gigabyte X570 I AORUS Pro WiFi Motherboard Review

AORUS X570 I Pro WiFi

While today marks the launch of a huge range of new products 7nm Radeon GPUs, and 7nm Ryzen CPUs! We’re also being spoilt with a huge range of brand new X570 motherboards. While we have lots of ATX models to show you today, we only have a single mini-ITX board. This comes in the form of the rather lovely looking AORUS X570 I Pro WiFi; the “I” in the name indicated it’s of their mini-ITX range. Don’t be fooled by the size though, it’s still packing an impressive feature set that’s sure to catch the attention of the enthusiast gaming market.

As with almost all X570 motherboards, it still features the same active cooling fan for the new chipset. That means it also packs in the latest PCIe 4.0 to its single PCIe lane, but also a pair of M.2 NVMe mounts with on on the front, and one on the rear of the motherboard. Of course, that means support for next-gen products, as well as the upcoming Gen4 SSDs.

It’s packing some impressive overclocking features too. You’ll find an 8 Phase IR Digital VRM, with huge heatsinks, and the active cooling fan. There’s armour on the DIMM and PCIe slots, and it features extra PCB layers to handle the power too. That means even the Ryzen 9 CPUs should run like a dream.

AORUS have thrown in their impressive RGB Fusion 2.0 lighting, ultra-fast WiFi 6 and BT5, as well as 1GbE LAN. Plus, with ALC1220-VB audio, you’ll be enjoying Hi-Res audio and powering your high-end headphones with ease. So, it seems that despite the size, this little board has all the features to stand up against its bigger brothers.

Features

• Supports AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen™/ 2nd Gen Ryzen™/ 2nd Gen Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics/ Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics Processors
• Dual Channel ECC/ Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 2 DIMMs
• Direct 8 Phases IR Digital VRM Solution with PowIRstage
• Advanced Thermal Design with Extended & Multi-Layered Heatsink
• Dual Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2 with one Thermal Guard
• Intel^® WiFi 6 802.11ax 2T2R & BT 5
• ALC1220-VB Enhance 114dB(Rear)/ 110dB(Front) SNR in Microphone with Nichicon Audio Capacitors
• Intel^® GbE LAN with cFosSpeed Internet
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Supports Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 5 features Multiple Temperature Sensors and Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP
• Rear USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C™ Header & HDMI 2.0 support
• Integrated Base Plate & I/O Shield Armor
• Q-Flash Plus update BIOS without installing CPU, Memory and Graphics card

CPU Support

Please keep in mind that Ryzen X570 motherboards only support Ryzen 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen CPUs. Despite being AM4 sockets, they do not currently work with Ryzen 1st Gen processors. Furthermore, for those wanting to use the full PCIe 4.0 functionality, you’ll also need to use the latest 3rd Gen CPUs.

4K Preview and Unboxing

Last week we brought you a preview of this motherboard here. Because we did the preview, we’ve already been over the features on this motherboard like we would in our “A Closer Look” section. So that has been replaced with a “photo gallery” on this review; we don’t need to tell you everything twice!

Show me More

We’ve got a LOT of new reviews to show you today, check out the entire list of motherboards, CPUs and graphics cards below;

• Gigabyte X570 AORUS Master Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 AORUS Pro Motherboard Review
• ASUS RoG Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard Review Review
• MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE Motherboard Review
• ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WiFi) Motherboard Review
• ASUS ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming Motherboard Review
• MSI MEG X570 ACE Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 I AORUS Pro WiFi Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 AORUS XTREME Motherboard Review
• ASRock X570 Motherboard Review
• ASUS PRIME X570-Pro Motherboard Review
• AMD Radeon RX5700 & 5700 XT Graphics Cards Review
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review

Photo Gallery

How We Test

Here at eTeknix, we endeavour to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of motherboard, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there’s always a margin for error when using any software. Therefore, your experience may vary.

Testing Your Own System

Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you’re looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using our benchmarks and settings where possible. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware we tested to give you a ballpark figure of how much an upgrade this will provide you with.

Intel Testbenches

Z390

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Intel Core i9-9900K
• RAM – Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHz
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Z370

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Intel Core i7-8700K
• RAM – Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHz
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

X299

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Intel Core i9-7900X
• RAM – Crucial DDR4 2400MHz Quad-Channel 32GB
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

B360

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Intel Core i7-8700K
• RAM – Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 2666 MHz
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

AMD Testbenches

X399 (Threadripper)

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Threadripper 1950X
• RAM – Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHz
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

X570

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Ryzen 9 3900X
• RAM – G.Skill 3400MHz Dual Channel 16GB
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

X470

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Ryzen 7 2700X
• RAM – G.Skill 3400MHz Dual Channel 16GB
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

X370

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Ryzen 7 1800X
• RAM – GeIL  DDR4 2977MHz Dual Channel 16GB
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

B450

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Ryzen 7 2700X
• RAM – G.Skill 3400MHz Dual Channel 16GB
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Games and Settings Used

All games are tested on a 60 Hz display with V-Sync off for all tests.

• Rise of the Tomb Raider (Steam)
  • DX12 Medium Preset
  • Pure Hair Off
• Deus Ex (Steam)
  • DX12 Medium Preset
• Ghost Recon: Wildlands (Uplay)
  • Medium Preset
  • Turf Effects Off
• Far Cry Primal (Uplay)
  • Normal Preset

Software Used

• 3DMark Fire Strike (download)
  • FireStrike (1080p) Benchmark
• Unigine Superposition (download)
  • 1080p Extreme Benchmark
• PCMark 10 Professional (download)
  • Express Benchmark
• WPrime (download)
  • 32M and 1024M
  • Power usage recorded at 1024M 50% complete, thermals recorded at 75% complete
• CineBench R15 (download)
  • CPU Multi
  • CPU Single
• CineBench R20 (download)
  • CPU Multi
  • CPU Single
• Handbrake (download)
  • Custom MP4 to MKV 4K conversion (details below)
• AIDA64 Engineer (download)
• CPU-Z (download)
• HWMonitor (download)

Handbrake

To stress processors to their absolute limit and accurately judge their performance in video editing workloads, we transcode a 7.7GB compilation of gaming footage; this particular file is freely available from here. The captured footage is 22 minutes and 12 seconds long, it has a bit rate of 50.1 Mbps, and it uses the Advanced Video Codec. Additionally, the video runs at a constant 30 frames-per-second and opts for a 3820 x 2140 (4K) resolution. Once loaded into Handbrake, we then transcode the 4K MP4 to an MKV file using the “normal” profile.

Other Notes

A rest period of 2-5 minutes is observed between each piece of software allowing the system to return to its idle power usage and temperatures. Background services like Windows Update are checked to not be running during the testing period by setting WiFi to Metered Connection.

Updates

All games, graphics card drivers, BIOS, Windows and everything else is always kept up to date with the latest available. Older benchmarks may not be retested until stated otherwise. However, all hardware will be tested with the best and latest firmware and software available to that hardware at the time of review. As of 1st of May 2018, all hardware was retested on their latest drivers. Anything after this date will again be using their most recent versions available to them.

Thanks

Thank you to Noctua, Crucial, ASUS, Gigabyte, Lian-Li, be quiet!, OCZ, for providing the hardware that helps makes these tests possible!

Synthetic Benchmarks

Scores

• 3DMark – 23468
• Unigine – 5800
• PCMark 10 – 7605
• WPrime – 2.503/55.757
• Cinebench R15 – 208/3172
• Cinebench R20 – 499/7155
• Handbrake – 78.8

3DMark Firestrike

Unigine Superposition

PCMark 10 Express

WPrime

Cinebench R15

CineBench R20

Handbrake MP4 to MKV Conversion 4K

Gaming Performance

Scores

• Rise of the Tomb Raider – 204.03
• Deus Ex – 97.6/129.1
• Ghost Recon – 90.4/119.16
• Far Cry – 103/132

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Ghost Recon

Far Cry

Overclocking

With X570 being a brand new platform, we have chosen to put the overclocking testing on hold. We’ve tested around ten motherboards with the overclocked CPU settings and honest, the results were broadly the same. For now, I refer you to our CPU reviews, which feature the overclocking results of the X570 chipset. I’ll also include the links on the first and last pages of each motherboard review.

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review

We’re waiting for the platform to mature, get the launch out of the way, and we’ll then take a deeper dive into overclocking on X570 with Ryzen 3rd Gen. Not only do we think this will be more useful to you, we think we’ll also be able to get even better results to differentiate the motherboards when we do. Sit tight, it’s coming, and we’re sure it’ll be worth the wait.

Power Consumption

How Much Does it Cost?

Unfortunately, at the time of writing we didn’t have final pricing information for pretty much any X570 motherboard. However, this isn’t a flagship board, so it should be somewhat reasonable. That being said, it’s not uncommon to pay a premium for the mini-ITX series of motherboards. We’ll update you as soon as we have more information. However, you can check up to date pricing in the UK here and in the US here.

Overview

Being the only mini-ITX motherboard we’ve got for the X570 launch, the AORUS X570 I Pro WiFi has already won a place in my heart. It’s also worth mentioning there are no mATX boards here for us to review, and they seem even more rare for this launch. However, we hope we see more, as despite the small size, the AORUS X570 I Pro WiFi packs a mighty punch that toppled even the big dog flagship motherboards in some of our tests.

Build Quality

It’s amazing how much you can really pack on a mini-ITX motherboard. With an 8 Phases IR Digital VRM, and a big and chunky heatsink, the AORUS X570 I Pro WiFi still has some decent overclocking potential; even on the Ryzen 9 series. It does still have the active chipset fan too, but that also forms part of the M.2 cooler, so that’s a nice two in one combo right there. AORUS has even armoured the DIMM slots and the PCIe lanes, improving both the motherboards strength and aesthetics in one swift move. Plus, little perks like the built-in I/O guard are always welcome.

Performance

Perhaps its the fact that it has less hardware than the ATX models and thus less overhead. Either way, the AORUS X570 I Pro WiFi was no slouch. It matched some very high-end motherboards in 3DMark and Unigine easily enough. It also set our highest score ever in PCMark 10, and our 3rd fastest (fastest for X570) score in WPrime! So don’t be fooled by the size, it’s small, but it has plenty of performance to give.

Added Value

The AORUS X570 I Pro WiFi isn’t short on features. It has solid overclocking hardware that certainly makes it appealing. However, dual Gen4 M.2 mounts, Gigabit LAN, WiFi 6, USB 3.1 Gen 2, HDMI 2.0, and the superb ALC1220-VB Enhance audio make it a joy to live with on a daily basis. Lots of connectivity to build an enthusiast system. However, if you’re all about the RGB, you’ll find RGB FUSION 2.0 with built-in lights on the motherboard, as well as ARGB and RGB LED headers on the motherboard.

Should I Buy One

While I do not know the price, I find it hard to believe you’ll find a better X570 mini-ITX motherboard at launch. It’s packed full of features, looks fantastic, and the performance exceeded my expectations. Put simply, I absolutely love the AORUS X570 I Pro WiFi!

• Gigabyte X570 AORUS Master Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 AORUS Pro Motherboard Review
• ASUS RoG Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard Review Review
• MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE Motherboard Review
• ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WiFi) Motherboard Review
• ASUS ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming Motherboard Review
• MSI MEG X570 ACE Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 I AORUS Pro WiFi Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 AORUS XTREME Motherboard Review
• ASRock X570 Motherboard Review
• ASUS PRIME X570-Pro Motherboard Review
• AMD Radeon RX5700 & 5700 XT Graphics Cards Review
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review